Like Clockwork
by sarahmw42
Summary: Newton's theory of a clockwork universe left something very important out...free will. The team gates to a world where all is not as it seems and questions: what is requisite for having a will of your own? Rated for language. Old chaps updated, new added.
1. In Retrospect

_authors notes: WOW! It's been a long, long time since I've updated. I've always wanted to finish this story, and apparently being sick in bed for the whole first week of the year gave me the perfect opportunity to overcome my writer's block._

_I've made changes to the existing chapters (minor, but important) and added a couple new ones. I have more chapters in the works, and they're WAY better than my older version of this story. : ) And hey, its a new year - why not try again.  
_

_Thank you SO MUCH to my previous reviewers. _

_And of course, as for SGI - I don't own them, and I don't make a profit._

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"JACK"

To Daniel, this just wasn't a good day to die. Not a good day, and not a good fashion.

Damn he was freezing. Really cold. He hated the cold more than anything. He hated the way it sapped every ounce of his strength. He hated the way it clouded his mind. At the moment he especially hated the way it made his arms and legs move like lead – because at present, he really needed to be more mobile.

But he wasn't all that mobile, numbed by the cold water he was in. And because of that, he kept slipping under the surface. Only to come up with more and more difficulty, spluttering for breath.

"JACK!" He shouted again. He could really only hear a few things. He could hear the echo of his voice in the not-so-large chamber. He could hear his ragged breath in his ears and the thudding of his heart pounding each time he slipped beneath the surface. He could hear the rush of the rising water. He actually thought it was amazing it rose so quickly considering the size of the space he was in.

But he didn't hear a response.

And that troubled him.

He could only tread water for so long before exhaustion started to claim him.

And no matter how much stamina he had, it wouldn't do him any good if the water continued its rise and claimed the last of the airspace there was.

And it was happening quickly. Too quickly, in fact.

"JA…" Daniel spluttered again, slipping under as he tried again to call for help.

When he came back to the surface, he knew it would be for the last time.

In retrospect, perhaps coming to this planet hadn't been such a great idea after all. But you know what they say about hindsight.

He barely had time to catch a breath, never mind call out again.

"_I'm sorry Jack,_" Daniel thought as he slipped beneath the cold water.


	2. NORAD is gonna be pissed

_authors note: Not betad. And forgive any questionable scientifics - I'm a programmer, not a physicist. : ) And the standard disclaimer applies._

_-------------------------- _

Many hours earlier

"How's it goin' Carter," Jack walked up behind his 2IC, who was watching some kind of read out on one of the many control room monitors. He wasn't even going to try and guess what she was looking for.

Clearly, the blonde-haired captain was in her "scientific" mode. She looked a bit excited about whatever it was she was doing, and was somewhat distracted by it. She was a good solder, he knew that, but unlike Daniel, she had this dual nature to her, and it was clear, most of the time, whether she was acting as a scientist or a solder. Here, in the relative safety of the base, she could give in more to her scientific tendencies. Especially the tendency he'd observed in both Carter, and her so-called twin, the archaeologist, to become absorbed in their work to the point of tuning most everything else out. Unlike the archeologist, she didn't do it so much in the field.

"Carter?" he repeated.

"Oh," she startled just a bit. "Morning, Sir. The cold-dialing program had a hit just a few moments ago, but we're having a bit of trouble maintaining the wormhole." She turned to Sgt. Siler, who was standing near another monitor. "Sergeant, increase the power, another 20 percent."

Hearing Siler's soft "Yeth Ma'am" in the background, Jack watched as the formerly spluttering wormhole appeared stabilize a bit.

"What's with the power increase Carter?"

"Wormhole power requirements seem proportionally related to the distance between the sending and receiving gates, although there seems to be some kind of calculation factor involved, probably logarithmic, as there can be a wide variation in the distances reachable using a single power setting. It's almost as if we could break up target destinations into a series of classes…I'm sure the DHD handles the calculations normally, we haven't completed all of the data analysis yet to draw a firm conclusion…"

"Carter?"

"Sir, I think this gate may be quite a bit further away that the other's we've visited."

"Ah."

"Ma'am," the gate technician spoke up. "I think we have a stable connection now."

As he watched, Jack though the wormhole appeared to get just a bit brighter as it stabilized. A near-by equipment alarm started beeping insistently.

"What's that?"

"Now that the gate is stabilized, it seems to be drawing it's own power. I guess the extra 20 percent wasn't quite enough to maintain the connection…"

"It's up to 35 percent increathed, ma'am" Siler called out over the alarm. "Climbing to 45."

"That's not so good, we may have to supplement the power if we re-dial, but if it takes much more I don't think it'll be feasible…"

And with that, the control room lights browned out.

But the wormhole held.

After only a few seconds, feet could be heard clamoring down the steps to the control room.

"Captain Carter?" General Hammond looked as though he was ready to bark, but at least gave the Captain a chance to explain first, with a slightly perplexed look on his face. "What's the meaning of this? I just got a call from up top – the entire mountain's browned out."

"Sir, we were dialing PRX-427. The wormhole had a larger power consumption than we expected – but it looks like we can maintain a stable connection."

In the dim light, Hammond looked a bit exasperated.

"Ooo-oh," sing-songed Jack, "NORAD's so gonna be pissed!"

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_I'm all for reviews. : )_


	3. The Briefing

_author's note: in case you didn't notice that Carter was a Captian - this is early Stargate. I LOVE the new seasons, just was in the mood for some early stuff. I debated editing this to the new team, but I like Daniel and Jack's (cannon) interactions so much, I said 'nah' to that. But if Daniel is coming across less confident than he does now, that's because of the earlier timeframe. Don't worry- I like him snarky too, we'll get there. : )  
_

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"Any time, Dr. Jackson"

General George Hammond looked expectantly at the SGC's head archaeologist. And linguist. Oh, and anthropologist. He didn't think he'd ever get used to how young the doctor appeared. George knew the civilian doctor was about thirty, but he certainly didn't look it. He found himself debating whether it was Jackson's physical appearance or the aura of innocence that surrounded him.

"Probably a combination of the two," he thought to himself.

"Ah, yes. Of course, General."

It was clear Jackson was mentally preparing himself, gathering his thoughts while he shuffled his notes a bit. He didn't exactly appear flustered, but as usual it was apparent he was slightly nervous. Hammond eyed the ever-present cup of coffee. He had no idea what number this was. Since it was about eleven AM, he figured at a minimum, this was cup number five. This would certainly explain the civilian's slightly-edgy disposition.

Finally standing, Jackson produced a video tape and popped it into the player at the front of the room. He paused before beginning his presentation, giving the tape time to play.

"Ah, as you can see, this is the MALP playback from PRX-427."

"That'd be planet brown-out, sir."  
It seemed Colonel O'Neill couldn't resist jumping in. Hammond silenced him with a look.

Daniel cleared his throat a bit, adjusting his glasses as he did so. "It would appear the 'gate is indoors, ah, although it is impossible to tell how large the construction is, um, what we can see appears to be in stable condition"

He paused again, eyes flashing over to his team's commanding officer, Colonel Jack O'Neill. As expected, the colonel now had a slightly glazed expression and was idly twirling a pen between his fingers. While Daniel may have thought this meant O'Neill wasn't listening to a word he said, Hammond knew better. Jack O'Neill didn't get to be his second in command for nothing. He certainly wasn't as disinterested as he pretended to be, and Hammond had no doubt the former black-ops trained officer knew exactly what was going on around him at all times.

As if to prove Hammond's belief, O'Neill looked up at Jackson, his expression clearly saying "Relax. You can do this." Jackson's returned look was just as clear. "Thank you." And he took a deep breath, shifting to a more relaxed posture before continuing.

"Now, if we pause here, you can see the inscriptions on this column." Jackson paused again. He looked expectantly at the members of his team and Hammond with a look of almost hopeful anticipation. Like he was waiting for the answer to a question.

No one spoke up, although O'Neill did stop twirling his pen. He narrowed his eyes a bit as he regarded the archaeologist. Hammond had a feeling the colonel's thoughts were echoing his own – Jackson didn't seem to understand that others didn't make the same leaps of intuition that he did. That something obvious to the young, multiple PhD wasn't so obvious to those around him. Another sign of both his lack of faith in his own abilities, as well as his naiveté.

"DanielJackson," Speaking with his usual firmness, Teal'c finally broke the uncomfortable silence that had befallen the briefing room. "Those symbols are goa'uld, are they not?"

"Yes," he said, nearly blurting it out in his excitement, his hand reflexively punctuating his statements. "Yes... yes, they are."

"What do they say?" O'Neill questioned slowly and deliberately.

"Uh, it looks like some sort of warning. What I can see from the transmission basically translates to, ah, 'We have forsaken the laws. All gods who return shall perish.' This part was actually in the largest script, I guess to make sure it was seen. Uh, actually, there's some smaller script here as well"

"And?" O'Neill raised his eyebrows.

"And… I can't really make all of it out. As you can see, the, uh, script is impossible to read over the transmission, maybe due to its size. That, or it's been worn away. I could pick out one phrase though"

Hammond watched again as the two seemed engaged in another non-verbal communication. Jackson broke the contact and eyed the monitor again. The image flickered slightly, a ghostly reflection from his glasses flickering at the same time, while his face was caught in the screen's bluish output.

"Clockwork"

"Dr. Jackson." Hammond had finally decided to speak up. "Do you have any idea what that refers to?"

"Well, no sir, not that last phrase, anyway."

"But you have a theory on the rest."

"Ah, yes sir." Turning back to the image on-screen, he pointed to the first line of text. For some reason, it didn't quite register with him that pointing to the text wouldn't help his explanation, only he and Teal'c would be able to read it anyway. "It's clearly a threat to gate travelers, and it's written in goold…so I assume the 'gods' they refer to…well..."

He turned back to his team while still gesturing behind him at the script. He was just in time to see the look of realization flash over Jack O'Neill's features.

"Are goold." He said quietly.

"Right." Jackson replied, with a slightly perplexed look on his face. Hammond was a little amused by the expression. _"See_," Hammond thought to himself, _"Jack pays attention."_

"Umm…and…and whoever the inhabitants of PRX-427 are, they've turned against the goold, they've… they've 'forsaken' the laws of their rule." In his excitement, Daniel's speech was gaining speed, and slightly stuttering, a habit he displayed when impassioned by a subject. "Or," he paused, both to take a breath and for emphasis, "Perhaps their protectors have."

"Like the Asgard." Capitan Sam Carter spoke slowly. It was clear she was seeing where Jackson was going, but she was holding back, wanting to make sure.

It was clear O'Neill saw it as well. His eyes locked with Jackson's. When they next spoke, it was in unison.  
"Like Cimmeria."

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_authors note: the plot thickens. Reviews rock. Next chapter: Dave Dixon? Hey, that's not cannon... well - it could be cannon - you know, suspending disbelief and all... also, yeah, the chapters aren't all that long, but I'm keen on short chapters. Quick reads. Easier to sneak in between what ever duties I'm ignorning... " P_


	4. On the Other Side

_author's note:_ _getting close to the action. And still applying the disclaimer._

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"You know, I really would have felt better having Teal'c along…"

"Daniel."

"I mean, I feel like I have a good handle on Goa'uld, it's just this dialect seemed a little off… oh…and I'm, I'm sure Dixon's gonna be great and all…"

"DANIEL."

Jack waited.

"Fifth chevron engaged!" The technician called out over the rumble of the gate.

"Jack, we don't _know _this is going to be exactly like Cimmeria."

Jack sighed. "Can't risk it, Daniel. You know that."

"Yes Jack. I know."

"Then don't worry about it. If there's anything you can't make out, we can bring it back for Teal'c." Jack said. 'As if we'd need to' he added silently.

"Sixth chevron engaged!"

"Yeah Jackson, it's just a 24 hour recon. It'll be fine. I'll be home in time to pick the kids up from Grandma's." Major Dave Dixon approached the ramp, having just entered the gateroom.

"Grandma's?" Jack turned and questioned the Major. Dixon was a family man, but dedicated to his job. He looked to be in his upper thirties, and had a quite renowned wit - this was gonna be fun, especially since he'd be spending much of his time babysitting - ummm- keeping watch for - his scientific companions.

Dixon snickered. "Gotta give my poor wife a break sometime. Alone again with three kids? She'd kill me."

Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Dixon waited at the bottom of the ramp. Above, General Hammond, Teal'c, and other personnel could be seen in the control room.

"Seventh chevron… locked!"

With a whoosh, the gate opened, bathing the room in pale blue light. Jack rolled a bit on the balls of his feet. Sam glanced over her equipment one more time. Dixon gazed ahead, with an almost smug look on his face. Daniel tightened the strap of his helmet and blew out a breath.

"Well," Daniel said quietly. "A lot can happen in 24 hours."

Jack just looked at him.

"SG1," With a small amount of static, General Hammond's Texan drawl came over the intercom, echoing and sounding a bit tinny. "You have a go."

"Let's go campers," Jack said as he climbed the ramp. Looking back over his shoulder as he neared the worm-hole he called up towards the control room.

"Teal'c, hold down the fort!"

* * *

The gate room on the other side was enormous, cavernous in nature. The acoustics were such that every sound was reflected back to them ten-fold, from the hum of the gate, to the slrrp sound each of her team mates made as they exited the gate. The room was not well lit, even with the glow of the gate, but she assumed the acoustic properties were caused by a relatively dome-shaped ceiling to accompany what she could see was a recessed, curved floor – like an enclosed amphitheater. How that could be engineered in what looked like solid stone… she wasn't sure. But it's proportions were amazing. Perhaps…

"Carter?"

She turned slightly, acknowledging the colonel, chiding herself for letting her thoughts get away from her.

_ Thwump_

The gate shut down moments after Daniel came through. The darkness was oppressive, even knowing the probable size of the room; the sudden silence deafening, magnified by the loss of sight.

_Click_

The colonel turned on his flashlight, letting it stream out ahead of them. He slowly panned it from center to left, then to right.

"Ho-ly crap." She heard him mutter.

Sometimes the MALP just didn't convey scale appropriately.

"This is… large" she heard Daniel say slowly.

"Yep," the colonel agreed. "It's definitely…" he paused.

"Large," they stated in unison.

_Sheesh, boys._ She thought. _And one a linguist to boot._

"The wide-angle lens on the MALP's camera would have significantly compressed the depth of field in a room like this. And when we came in for the narrower shots of the text, the reduced aperature stop caused the background to loose focus, not to mention the primary light source was the gate…"

"Carter"

"Yes sir"

"Don't worry about it."

"Yes sir"

"Sam…"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"I think the MALP's depth perception wasn't it's only problem…"

Sam glanced at Daniel, he was turned around, staring at the gate, mouth agape.

"Daniel?"

"Umm…" And with that eloquent statement, he caught her eye and nodded towards the gate. She turned and shined her flashlight toward it, gasping.

"Sir…"

And with that, the colonel glanced behind him as well. "I think I'll reiterate my 'holy crap'."

The gate was at least three times its normal size.

"I guess that explains the power consumption issue," Sam said quietly.

"We'll, I think we got another problem folks" Dixon added.

Daniel turned again, following the line of Dixon's flashlight to the front of the gate platform.

"Ugh, guys…where did the MALP go?"

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_author's note: not as descriptive I guess, but hey. More to come. Next chapter: exploring the gateroom - and beyond. Some things just always seem to lead to trouble for our intrepid team. _


	5. Awakening

_author's note: ultra short, but needed. : ) Disclaimer applies unfortunately._

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For many cycles, it has been dormant.

Waiting, nearly inactive.

For it's task to become required.

But not completely inactive.

Rather, performing an endless loop of evaluation.

Iterating countless times through it's programming, wating.

For a single variable to toggle from FALSE…

To TRUE.

And once that condition is met,

Awakening.

At last.

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_author's note: Another day in bed, this time with the laptop - writing more chapters. I have two excellent chapters done, just need to do the one in between. Oh, the suspense. I noticed too, in the stats for the story, that several folks who read chapter 3 did not go on to read chapter 4. I'm all for feedback, if you didn't like chapter 3 (or any chapter) let me know why, even if it's negative (although I prefer constructive) so I can do better. : ) And if you_ liked _it, well same applies, gotta feed the muse and all. Thanks._


	6. So, not a sunny paradise after all

_author's note: disclaimer still applies. _

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Darn, this place was big.

And dark.

What was it with SG1, anyway?

Why can't he have tagged along to some sunny planet? You know, a warm paradise, with sandy beaches, ocean breezes, that kind of thing.

He could see the conversation with his mother-in-law now.

_'David, where did you get a tan in the middle of winter? You were only gone a day.'_

_'Sorry Doris,' he say, in his most military manner, 'That's classified.'_

"Major?"

Doris never called him Major. The old bag…

"Yessir"

"You and Carter check the perimeter, Daniel and I are gonna take a look at those columns. Check-in every 15."

"Yessir. Captain, with me."

"Jack, can you _please_ hold the light still?"

Jack sighed. Damn archaeologists. He should have paired Daniel with Dixon.

But no.

Daniel was far too much of a trouble magnet. Dixon was a good officer, but he didn't really know Daniel, and…

Well, who knows what could happen.

So Jack did the only thing he could do… he sucked it up, and held the light still while the good doctor took notes.

"_Yes_, Dr. Jackson," he mumbled. It was wasted of course, Daniel seemed oblivious to the sarcasm.

They were at the column they'd seen in the video feed, and it, like everything else here, was much larger than Jack had expected.

Daniel was standing on his toes to look at the top of the inscription, and Daniel wasn't exactly a small guy - a fact that Jack sometimes forgot because of his own size.

And, you know, Teal'c… Teal'c could make anyone feel like a shrimp.

The column was made of the same dark stone the rest of the structure seemed to be made of. It reflected very little light back, which made the place seem all that much darker. It had a strange texture to it - some kind of very shallow swirl marks - the kind an orbital sander might leave on soft wood if the grit were too coarse…of course, this was stone, so he wasn't sure what that meant - he'd actually have to remember to ask Daniel.

There were many other columns throughout the room, spaced at regular intervals, probably acting as supports. They were spaced pretty far apart though, in all directions.

_Maybe to save in building materials…_Jack thought.

But then he glanced back at the 'gate, three times it's normal size.

"Well," Daniel said at last, "I'd still stick to my earlier translation. This is definitely some kind of warning, although I haven't seen any indication of a … of a… of something like Thor's Hammer."

Yeah, Jack hadn't either.

"I mean, nothing scanned us when we came through, although I suppose it's possible there's some other kind of sensory equipment."

Jack was listening to Daniel, really he was, but another sound started to catch his attention.

A clicking.

"So," Daniel continued, impervious to Jack's distraction, "The inscription reads: 'We have forsaken the laws. All gods who return shall perish.' But it doesn't continue… It would… ah… it would help to know who 'we' refers to, obviously…"

But it wasn't quite a clicking. It started with more like a tap, but kind of scraped as well. It was a light noise, the speed was consistent, but there was a pause every now and again, the sounds just slightly overlapping each other.

Almost like the sound his computer keyboard makes while typing.

Not that he liked typing.

"The rest of the writing though…" Seemed Daniel still hadn't caught the sound.

"Shhh…."

"Wha…." Daniel started, confused. When he continued speaking, at least he was whispering. "Jack… what?"

"Do you hear that?" Jack whispered back.

And from the suspicious look on Daniel's face, Jack could tell that yes, he heard it too.

"Carter and Dixon maybe?"

The sound continued. To Jack, it reminded him of another sound he'd heard…in a time he'd rather not remember.

Rats.

But if they were rats, they must be pretty damn big.

"Dixon, report," he said quietly into the radio.

At the same time, he swept the immediate area with his light - noting that the sound continued anyway.

Odd.

But he didn't see anything.

"All clear so far sir," Dixon answered equally quietly. "I'd say the… room… sir, is round, probably 100 meters diameter, we have seen several points of egress…over"

So, not Carter and Dixon. He could hear them over the radio, but that was all. They weren't close enough to be causing the _other_ noise.

At least they had a way out. One thing for sure, Jack didn't like the darkness, and he didn't like all these pillars… to many places for … things… to hide.

"Don't leave the room yet. Keep your eyes open, O'Neill out."

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_author's note: almost 500 hits - with 7 reviews. And THANK YOU to my 7 reviewers, and of course, thank you to the readers as well. Soapbox moment... A writer's greatest tool is constructive feedback... in my opinion anyway. Any review is better than no review - let me know what you think. : ) Ok, enough begging. On another topic: So more Dixon - hey, I like Dixon, and didn't want to bother writing original characters. I know some of you are probably like "Hey! Where's Teal'c" - give it time, give it time. There was a legit reason for keeping him behind... or so the team _thought_ anyway... but that's for a future chapter. _


	7. Odds and the acquiring thereof

_author's note: disclaimer still applies. _

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Back at the SGC… 

The personnel in the control room eyed him warily, keeping as wide a girth between he and they as they could, however it was difficult to accomplish in the small space.

It was no matter.

Teal'c would remain in the control room as long as was necessary to ensure the safety of his team.

He was not comfortable with being left at the SGC, however he understood the necessity.

And he was in no mood to face a challenge like Cimmera again. Not because of fears for his own safety, but because were he again… compromised… in that way, he would surely endanger the team as they attempted to retrieve him.

At the same time, likening this planet to Cimmeria simply because it had a warning against the false gods, was perhaps what CaptainCarter would refer to as a "wild assumption".

Of course, the team was aware of that fact.

They just were not prepared to assume the risk in case that assumption was, in fact, correct.

"Teal'c?"

Teal'c was quite aware of GeneralHammond's approach, so was not surprised by his inquiry.

"Yes, GeneralHammond."

"Son," he started. Curious he would call Teal'c son even though he was, in fact, many years his junior. Teal'c would, of course, keep that observation to himself.

"Son, you don't need to wait in the control room. We'll let you know if we need you."

"GeneralHammond," Teal'c responded, "I shall wait here in case I am needed to render assistance."

"Teal'c," Hammond continued, "you know we couldn't take the risk."

"And now GeneralHammond, I fear my team is "taking the risk" without me."

Teal'c considered for a moment before continuing. "I understand the desire to avoid a situation similar to what occurred with Thor's Hammer, however I believe I would rather have acquired my odds."

"I understand Teal'c." he replied. "Check-in is in about an hour. We'll re-evaluate then."

Teal'c merely nodded as Hammond headed back upstairs.

"Oh," he called out. "And Teal'c?"

Teal'c looked at the general, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

"The phrase is 'taken my chances'."

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_author's note: Wonder what's gonna happen at the check-in? Wonder also, what's going on back on the planet? ROUS's? Humph. I thought those didn't exist. _


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